Identified! VA - Giles Co., skeletal remains in Mountain Lake, Sep'08 - Samuel Felder

[shadowangel]

Articles from an Iowa paper detail the disappearance of Fred E F Fyle, a 52 year-old doctor. Fyle, who lived in Geddes, SD, also practiced medicine in Sioux City IA. He was last seen in Sioux City in December of 1923.
Fyle had attended medical school at the University of Toronto (whose logo features a tree on top of the school's shield). Fyle would have been around 32 in '04, which is possible for someone attending college, then medical school....
Fyle had his own practice and worked with hospitals, which makes me think he was most likely well-off financially.
An article from February of '24 indicates Fyle was still missing as of that date.

 

[Earthbound Misfit I]

Tips flow in for Mountain Lake mystery

By Ashley Roberts
WSLS10 Reporter
Published: September 30, 2008

Nearly one hundred hours...that’s how much time has been put into solving the Mountain Lake mystery.

Investigators say they’ve received nearly 20 tips from Ohio, New York and Virginia about who the person found at Mountain Lake could be.

Some calls have led to dead ends, but they’re hoping a tip about the ring found near the remains will be different.....

More here: http://www.wsls.com/sls/news/local/...tips_flow_in_for_mountain_lake_mystery/18419/

 

[Earthbound Misfit I]

From the above article it says..

A caller said “that it could possibly be Canadian Army Medical Course, which is the CA and the MC on the ring,” said Giles County Investigator Thomas Gautier.

Giles County investigators say the FBI has contacted them about helping with the case.

 

[shadowangel]

The "Canadian Army" was not officially known as such until 1940. Prior to that, the Canadian military was known as the Canadian Militia. It was composed of two parts-The active duty "Permanent Active Militia" and "Non-Permanent Active Militia", similar to a reserve force.
The PAM medical component was established in July of 1904 as the Permanent Active Militia Army Medical Corps (or PAMC). It was reorganized in May of 1909 as the Canadian Army Medical Corps, and remained as such until 1919 When it became the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps.

(Sources: CanadianSoldiers.com, http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/organization/canadianarmy.htm
War Story of the CAMC
http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/women/adami/camc/camc.html )

 

[marion]

The "Canadian Army" was not officially known as such until 1940. Prior to that, the Canadian military was known as the Canadian Militia. It was composed of two parts-The active duty "Permanent Active Militia" and "Non-Permanent Active Militia", similar to a reserve force.
The PAM medical component was established in July of 1904 as the Permanent Active Militia Army Medical Corps (or PAMC). It was reorganized in May of 1909 as the Canadian Army Medical Corps, and remained as such until 1919 When it became the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps.

(Sources: CanadianSoldiers.com, http://www.canadiansoldiers.com/organization/canadianarmy.htm
War Story of the CAMC
http://www.digital.library.upenn.edu/women/adami/camc/camc.html )

Sigh....

Well, I did send them the NCCA info this weekend...... I know they are busy and getting lots of leads though. I'm tempted to go ahead and contact the NCSU archives and get them to check it out for me. Or, who knows, maybe they have checked it out and that wasn't it.

Btw, I wonder if there is something we aren't seeing in the photos and that N really does look like an M.

 

[Earthbound Misfit I]

Mountain Lake body undergoes tests
by Becca Thomas, CT news reporter
Wednesday, October 1; 11:26 PM

The skeletal remains found in a Giles County lake two weeks ago have yet to be identified, though Virginia Tech and Radford professors have investigated the scene.

Currently, the bones are at Radford University, said Giles County Sheriff Morgan Millirons. In addition to the remains, investigators found a gold class ring, belt buckle, silver case, and a pair of shoes at the bottom of the lake.

The gold class ring had the initials "MC" on one side and "CA" on the other. On top of the stone, "04" was engraved. The belt buckle and silver case -- most likely to be for cigarettes -- had the initials "SCF" engraved on both, Millirons said.

"We currently don't have anything with leads on who the person is," Millirons said. "We found a tooth, but it was decayed with a metal stud with a root canal and we don't know if it was part of the body that was found."

More here: http://www.collegiatetimes.com/stories/2008/10/01/mountain_lake_body_undergoes_tests

 

[shadowangel]

Sigh....

Well, I did send them the NCCA info this weekend...... I know they are busy and getting lots of leads though. I'm tempted to go ahead and contact the NCSU archives and get them to check it out for me. Or, who knows, maybe they have checked it out and that wasn't it.

Btw, I wonder if there is something we aren't seeing in the photos and that N really does look like an M.

I haven't seen a clear-enough photo of that side of the ring yet to tell for sure. From what I can see, it could as easily be an "N" as an "M".

The NCSU lead is still as viable, or more so, than others I've read about thus far.

 

[miss u daddy]

WOW this mystery is getting even more mysterious. Inquiring minds want to know who this gentleman found is!

 

[peridotsweetie]

I live in the area and this was in today's news regarding the case:

"According to newspaper clippings, Samuel Ira Felder, 37, fell overboard as he boated on the lake with his wife and friends late the night of July 23, 1921. Though divers searched for days, Felder's body was never recovered."

The rest of the story can be found here:
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/181168

 

[Fairy1]

This just has to be Samuel! What a wonderful but sad story. I'm not so sure about the heart failure, though. He was only 37! Maybe the water was too cold or he was really struggling. I really wonder what ever happened to Catherine.

 

[Earthbound Misfit I]

Everything sure does fit for the unidentified man being Samuel Ira Felder!

 

[clemsongrad]

I am obviously a Clemson graduate as you can tell by my name, and it did not even occur to me that the ring was a Clemson ring. The Clemson ring for at least the last thirty years has had a Palmetto tree on the front of it. I know that Clemson used to be called Clemson Agricultural and Mechanical College. I guess that I was thinking that the ring had the letters MC and CA in that order so it didn't even register with me. That was an interesting mystery. Hopefully, it has been solved.

 

[amethyst]

How wonderful! That must be him-perhaps he wasn't a swimmer and that is why he drowned. Anyway I'm happy for his family and he can finally be brought home.

 

[rpipergirl]

http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--mountainlakemyste1021oct21,0,360206.story Here is a very likely id for this man. Here is a snipet from the above link.
According to newspaper clippings, Samuel Ira Felder, 37, fell overboard as he boated on the lake with his wife and friends late the night of July 23, 1921. Though divers searched for days, Felder's body was never recovered.

One Roanoke Times article dated July 29, 1921, was titled "Mountain Lake Holds Body in its Grasp."

 

[PFF]

Would falling into cold water bring on heart attack ?? Such as Titanic sinking?

 

[MeoW333]

We don't know his physical health beforehand; he may have been more prone to a heart attack dependingly. Extreme stress may bring on a heart attack coupled with already existing physical conditions; perhaps he didn't know how to swim..

 

[Donjeta]

Case closed:

Mountain Lake mystery is laid to rest
Eighty-nine years after Samuel Ira Felder drowned in Giles County's Mountain Lake, his grandniece will carry his belongings and his bones home to South Carolina.

PEMBROKE -- As Emily Jackson looked out over Mountain Lake, she tried to picture what it looked like in July 1921, when her great-uncle drowned there while taking a nighttime boat ride with friends.

The body of Samuel Ira "Si" Felder sat forgotten at the bottom of the lake until two years ago, when the lake dried to nothing but a small pool.

It first revealed his shoes, then his belt buckle, cigarette case, class ring, clothing and, finally, his remains.

The Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas attempted to match DNA from the bones found in the lake bed to Jackson and her son, but weren't able to obtain enough DNA from the remains, Skidmore said.

The Roanoke medical examiner's office, however, has closed its investigation, labeling the remains as "presumed to be" Felder.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/261635

Another story
http://www.roanoke.com/news/nrv/wb/182018